Awareness

January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month. Human trafficking is defined as “modern-day slavery and involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act.” (1) While human trafficking can encompass many things, we want to share some statistics for domestic sex trafficking (2):
244,000 - the number of children estimated to be at risk for sexual exploitation100,000 - the estimated number of youth being prostituted in the United States400 - the number of adolescents working the streets of Las Vegas in just one month13 - the average age of a child to be pulled into sex trafficking1 in 3 - the ratio of child to adult trafficking...

December 17th is International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. This day of remembrance and awareness began in 2003, and The Cupcake Girls want to reaffirm our commitment and support to the sex work community. On Saturday, we will remember those who have lost their lives, or faced trauma at the hands of violent perpetrators. Every life lost, hurt, and threatened is valuable to us, and we stand in solidarity with organizations who are working to end these tragedies.
Some facts about violence about sex workers:
45-75% of sex workers globally will experience violent encounters
Statistics range from country to country, but 30-80% of these assaults are committed by police officers. This...

Domestic violence is pervasive and insidious in our society. While typically associated with physical violence (and statistics show that 15% of all violent crime is domestic violence), this abuse can come in other forms, including psychological, sexual, and financial abuse.
Psychological abuse involves trauma to the victim caused by verbal abuse, acts, threats of acts, or coercive tactics. (1)
Perpetrators who are physically violent toward their intimate partners are often sexually abusive as well. Victims who are both physically and sexually abused are more likely to be injured or killed than victims who experience one form of abuse. (2)
Financial abuse limits access to shared or...

September is known as National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, which helps promote resources and awareness around the issues of suicide prevention, how you can help others and how to talk about suicide without increasing the risk of harm. Suicidal thoughts can affect anyone regardless of age, gender or background. Suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people and is often the result of mental health conditions that affect people when they are most vulnerable. You can learn more about spreading awareness at the NAMI website.
September 10th is World Suicide Prevention Day and focuses on raising awareness and helping those with suicidal ideation get connected to treatment...

Today marks the United Nations World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. Human trafficking has come to the forefront of social justice causes in the last 10 years, and for good reason - trafficking human beings, for labor or sex, is a horrific violation of human rights and a form of modern-day slavery. We stand with the many organizations working tirelessly to end human trafficking around the world and applaud their efforts, but we saw an unmet need for providing resources and support to these courageous survivors as they take their next steps into the world.
We want to share with you some of the ways The Cupcake Girls are fighting human trafficking.
Some of us have been in the adult...

Everyday around the world, hundreds of thousands of people are employed in the sex industry.
Many who are in need are often judged based on what they have chosen, or have been forced to do, as their line of work.
These women are our coworkers, our friends, our family, and most of all, they are human beings.
They are individuals with the right to work, the right to better their lives, the right to health, and the right to safety.
They should be able to stand and say, "I AM SOMEONE."
Today, June 2nd is International Sex Worker Day, which began in 1975 in Lyon, France.
As an organization that works closely with sex workers on a daily basis, we want to stand in solidarity.
These...

450 million people worldwide suffer from mental health conditions*
60 percent of those people go untreated*
Let’s just take a minute and soak in those numbers...
Four Hundred Fifty Million people...which means that it’s likely that many people close to us suffer with mental health conditions.
Sixty Percent...which means that people we love are not getting the care they need to live their best lives.
Doesn’t that anger you?
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and we at The Cupcake Girls are not only deeply angered by these stats, we are committed to doing something about it.
Last year, we had the privilege of giving out $21,600 in mental health services to our clients. We also...

April is National Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Below are some staggering statistics that none of us should be comfortable with.
Every 107 seconds, someone is sexually assaulted in the U.S.68% of sexual assaults go unreported1 in 6 women is a victim of sexual assault
The damage from sexual assault trauma is difficult and we are unwavering in our commitment to providing our clients with the support and resources they need as they work through the healing process.
According to recent statistics, victims of sexual assault are:
26x more likely to abuse drugs13x more likely to abuse alcohol6x more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder4x more likely to contemplate suicide3x more...

Madeleine Albright once said, "It took me quite a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I am not going to be silent." Throughout history, women have had to fight to be fully recognized as equal and valuable human beings.
Today, on International Women’s Day, we remember and honor that struggle. Although we are available to anyone in the adult industry, the majority of our clients are women, and we work tirelessly every day to help them become empowered...to help them find their voice in a world that often tries to drown them out. The inspiring and dynamic author and poet, Maya Angelou, was a sex worker and madam. Her life experiences shaped her and she openly shared about...

The Cupcake Girls serves individuals across all realms of sex work, and while many adult entertainers choose their profession, we’ve seen an alarming increase over the past few years in the number of our clients who are victims of sex trafficking. Based on self-reporting (i.e. the real numbers are likely even higher), as of the end of 2015, approximately 20% of our clients were actively being sex trafficked, or had been at one time.
According to the U.S. Department of State, human trafficking is the third largest international crime industry behind illegal drugs and arms trade, and the figures are alarming:
20-30 million people are currently being trafficked worldwide600,000 to 800,000...